Overview
The MeteoFranceDPObs importer facilitates access to public observations by the Meteo-France. The data is retrieved via the Meteo-France API portal.
The data is provided under license:
The import feature is available since August 2024, from Delft-FEWS version 2024.01 onwards.
About Meteo-France API portal
Meteo-France API portal provides access to a number of models. A catalogue of models available and their descriptions can be found at METEO FRANCE – DonneesPubliquesObservation API. To access different types of data, separate subscriptions is needed. BY default, a free subscription of 50 requests/minute is provided.
About the data
"Real-time" data measured at stations in mainland France and overseas at hourly and/or sub-hourly time steps (6 minutes). Basic parameters (temperature, humidity, wind direction and strength, precipitation) and additional parameters according to instrumentation (temperature in the ground, visibility, ground condition, insolation, global radiation).
Documentation of the data can be found (page in french): Public Data from Météo-France - Observations of the Ground Network of France (meteofrance.fr)
Authentication and APPLICATION_ID
The Meteo-France API portal allows access by a user name and password. The credentials are linked to an APPLICATION_ID, which is needed to generate access tokens by the importer.
After login Meteo-France API portal, click on the user account in connected mode (top right) > 'My API' > Choose an API > Click 'Generate Token'. The APPLICATION_ID can be found in the cURL command at the bottom of the page.
curl -k -X POST https://portail-api.meteofrance.fr/token -d "grant_type=client_credentials" -H "Authorization: Basic APPLICATION_ID"Configuration (Example)
A complete import module configuration consists of an ID Mapping file and a Import Module Instance file. To convert the rainfall in a proper unit (from 1 kg_m2 per hour to mm/hr for example) it is also required to configure a Unit Conversion file.
ModuleConfigFiles
The following example of an Import Module Instance will import the AROME model with 0.1 resolution for France at hourly timestep over the complete forecast period from 0 to 24 hour leadtime.
<timeSeriesImportRun xmlns="http://www.wldelft.nl/fews" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.wldelft.nl/fews http://fews.wldelft.nl/schemas/version1.0/timeSeriesImportRun.xsd"> <import> <general> <importType>MeteoFranceDPObs</importType> <serverUrl>https://public-api.meteofrance.fr/public/DPObs/v1/station/infrahoraire-6m</serverUrl> <!-- serverUrl>https://public-api.meteofrance.fr/public/DPObs/v1/station/horaire</serverUrl--> <!-- If use the /horaire URL, use a 1 hour timestep--> <relativeViewPeriod unit="hour" start="0" end="2"/> <table> <locationColumn name="geo_id_insee"/> <dateTimeColumn name="validity_time" pattern="yyyy-MM-dd'T'HH:mm:ss'Z'"/> <valueColumn name="t"/> <valueColumn name="td"/> <valueColumn name="u"/> <valueColumn name="dd"/> <valueColumn name="ff"/> <! – More value columns --> </table> </general> <properties> <string key="tokenUrl" value="https://portail-api.meteofrance.fr/token"></string> <string key="applicationId" value="$APPLICATION_ID$"></string> </properties> <timeSeriesSet> <moduleInstanceId>Import_DPObs</moduleInstanceId> <valueType>scalar</valueType> <parameterId>ff</parameterId> <locationId>59183001</locationId> <timeSeriesType>external historical</timeSeriesType> <timeStep unit="minute" multiplier="6"/> <readWriteMode>read only</readWriteMode> <expiryTime unit="day" multiplier="365"/> </timeSeriesSet> <timeSeriesSet> <moduleInstanceId>Import_DPObs</moduleInstanceId> <valueType>scalar</valueType> <parameterId>ff</parameterId> <locationId>34311001</locationId> <timeSeriesType>external historical</timeSeriesType> <timeStep unit="minute" multiplier="6"/> <readWriteMode>read only</readWriteMode> <expiryTime unit="day" multiplier="365"/> </timeSeriesSet> </import> </timeSeriesImportRun>
About server url
The serverUrl is used to select the product to import. Choose between the url for 6 minutes data or for hourly data.
About the subscription
The default free subscription from Meteo-France covers only 50 request per data. One request is needed to download one timestamp for a single location. Hence the number of requests needed can be computed by X timesteps multiplied by Y locations. In case of more requests are needed, it is possible to contact Meteo-France for a paid subscription. If the number of requests exceed the subscription, an ERROR will be issued. Data that are downloaded before the error occurs will be imported.
